Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Pelargonium peltatum cultivar KLEP02102.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium plant, botanically known as Pelargonium peltatum, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98KLEP02102xe2x80x99.
The new Ivy Geranium is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Ivy Geraniums with uniform and trailing plant habit and interesting flower and foliage colors.
The new Ivy Geranium originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1998 of a proprietary selection of Pelargonium peltatum identified as code number PM 005, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Pelargonium peltatum cultivar Kleblue, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/250,014, now abandoned, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar KLEP02102 was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the resulting progeny from this cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany since 2000 has shown that the unique features of this new Ivy Geranium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98KLEP02102xe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98KLEP02102xe2x80x99 as a new cultivar and distinguish it from other known Ivy Geranium cultivars:
1. Vigorous plant growth habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Early flowering habit.
4. Red purple-colored double flowers arranged in umbels.
5. Good tolerance to wind, rain and high temperatures.
Compared to plants of the female parent selection, plants of the new Ivy Geranium are more freely branching and have shorter internodes. In addition, flowers of plants of the new Ivy Geranium have more petaloids than flowers of plants of the female parent selection. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium and the male parent, the cultivar Kleblue, differ primarily in flower color as plants of the cultivar Kleblue have violet-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Ivy Geranium can be compared to plants of the cultivar Klerobright, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Stuttgart, Germany, plants of the new Ivy Geranium differed from plants of the cultivar Klerobright in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium were not as vigorous as plants of the cultivar Klerobright.
2. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium had shorter internodes than plants of the cultivar Klerobright.
3. Leaves of plants of the new Ivy Geranium had a less distinct zonation pattern than leaves of plants of the cultivar Klerobright.
4. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium and the cultivar Klerobright differed in flower color as plants of the cultivar Klerobright had bright red-colored flowers.
5. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium flowered earlier than plants of the cultivar Klerobright.